Sorry if this is so well understood that the question is redundant. I just saw a poll where it explicitly stated don't mention FAI as an option. Why the the determined stance against adopting a world wide standard? First off I am Canadian so this is not a Euro centric view just an observation.

Guy - this poll was started by me on RCScaleBuilder - Mitch moved it here. The short answer for the RCSB poll is: my poll, my rules

The long answer is that I don't think we hate FAI, but we don't understand it and no one runs a FAI Scale event except at the Nats or shortly after in order to select the team. We have been using AMA rules or variations for so long that no one even thinks much about FAI. Really - you can lay the blame at AMAs doorstep for not adopting FAI instead of their own rules.

I did not want to include FAI in my poll just because we are dealing with the normalization issue - I did not want to muddy the waters by including FAI.

I didn't mean to question the poll rules just curious why it was even mentioned .

If the last time any one looked at FAI was when AMA created their own rules then maybe another look wouldn't hurt now. I have read them and they don't seem that hard to understand but maybe I'm missing something.

The last time I looked, they were talking scale rulers etc. I know they have been changing a lot recently. Mitch pointed out to me that the weight issue might have something to do with it (It is well-known that America is an overweight country )

I don't think we hate FAI, it's that we haven't done well there since the likes of Ray Torres were competing. It may be sour grapes but I don't thing we've sent a team there in years.

The airplanes are smaller, even at 15kg (33#) that make for a smaller model as compared to what we see in the eastern part of the US.

The level of craftmanship that is required at the FAI level is higher than any of the 3 different organizations. There are distinct significant advantages to the guy who can design a model, build/mold all of the components including the wheels tires, control horns landing gear etc. And you document all of that. According to friends that have supported the US team in the past, they will even judge the writing on the side walls of the tires (No Joke)

Unless you are a designer, and know how to make the majority of your components there is no way you can be competitive at that level.